Deeply Rooted
by The Black Fool
Summary: My first attempt at a serious fanfiction. Critique wanted. OC Evey tries to befriend Neil, the biggest jackass in Echo Village. He can't stand her.
1. Chapter 1

My first attempt at a serious story. Critique requested and loved.

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Deeply Rooted

Part 1

As I unscrew the lid of the thermos to get at the warm chili inside, I take a moment to glare at the farmer girl, Evey, who is staring at me expectantly, like a repulsive, bug-eyed puppy waiting for a treat.

"Why are you so attached to me?"

Evey laughs, which irritates me. I didn't say anything funny.

"I feel like we have a lot in common," she tells me. She grins, displaying two rows of crooked teeth.

We have a lot in common? Bull. She doesn't know a thing about me. "You're full of it. We're nothing alike." For one thing, I mind my own business and I don't force myself onto strangers.

Evey continues smiling like an idiot. She pisses me off so much. I shift my gaze to the chili she made for me. Every day at noon, Evey comes into my shop with a special lunch she'd prepared. It's almost always spicy shrimp chili. I told her it was my favorite food in passing and she took it upon herself to feed me every single day at lunch time. To her credit, it was pretty good chili. If only she'd just leave the lunch on the counter and get the hell out of my shop to let me eat in peace.

"That's not entirely true. I know we both have a love for these animals we raise." She gestures to the pasture outside my shop, my cows grazing lazily in the summer sun. "They're like my children. I know you feel the same."

That's true. I love my animals. I shovel the chili into my mouth to avoid responding to her.

She shifts closer to me. She smells like the soil and manure she works in every morning. Her damp, dirty scent mixes with the sharp, fishy smell of the chili and it makes me sick. I wish she would shower before she delivers my lunch.

"Get away from me." I glare at her; our close proximity is making me nauseous. "Why don't you go bother Allen? I'm sure he's got plenty of time to listen to you spew nonsense."

Evey swats a fly aware from her face, no doubt attracted to her by her stench. "Allen's creepy. I think he's in love with me." I almost choke on my chili. Who could ever fall in love with her?

"You're so vain. Why would he love you?" Evey doesn't say anything. I feel a swell of triumph in my gut in making her shut up for once. She looks a bit sad. The truth hurts. "You're not as pretty or interesting as you think you are."

Looking genuinely hurt, Evey excuses herself from my presence. Good riddance.

"Enjoy your meal." She slams the door behind her as she leaves my shop.

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When I first met Evey, she had just moved into town back when no one really lived here and was busy setting up her farmland. Dunhill approached me with a huge sum of money asking for a cow he could give to her to help her get settled into her work. I delivered the cow to her at her farm. When I first saw her, I thought she was a really ugly boy with her flat chest, muscular arms, and pudgy face.

"Here's your cow, man. Take care of it," I pat the cow and begin to turn away.

"Hey, wait!" I was shocked at how feminine her voice sounded. "What's your name?"

She was a girl? I was thoroughly disgusted. "I'm Neil. I work at the animal supply shop on the plaza. Come by if you need anything." I began to walk away so I could get back to work.

"I'm Evey." She called out to me, hugging onto the poor cow I'd just given to her.

Evey: a perfectly lovely name gone to waste on a girl as unattractive as her. I turned away from her and went home.

"See you later!" she yelped desperately. I ignored her. Her voice was shrill and high-pitched. At that moment, I wished for nothing more than to never have to talk to her again.

The next day around three in the afternoon, she came to visit me at my home.

"Go away." I said when I saw her in the doorway.

"C'mon, Neil, I just want to talk." Evey begged. "There's no one else in town except for Hana and Dunhill."

"I'm not going to entertain you. Don't you have work to do?" On top of being annoying and ugly, she was also a slacker.

Evey sighed. "What's your deal? I just want to be friends."

"I don't need friends." I said. "My animals are all the company I need."

Eve paused, her dank, hazel eyes searching my face as if she were looking for the faintest hint of sympathy. Her quizzical expression made me uncomfortable. "Go home, Evey."

She looked disappointed and shifted her gaze towards the ground. "Okay."

"Okay."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thank for the follows/review. I'm doing my best to not make everyone a Mary Sue or goofy tsundere.

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On afternoons when Rod and I don't have to work, we go over to the tailor's shop and watch Yuri as she works. I am fascinated by her tiny, delicate, precise hands working with needles and fabric with incredible accuracy and skill. I'd love to teach her to play the bass guitar and watch her slender fingers pluck at the strings. Perfectly divine imagery.

As I make my way to the tailor's shop with Rod at my side, I relish in the fact that I've not seen Evey in two days. The thick girl must have finally realized I want nothing to do with her. It only took a year.

Upon entering the tailor's shop, I rest my eyes on Yuri, who is standing behind the counter with a sheepish grin on her face as she speaks quietly with Iroha and another person who stands across the counter from her.

Oh god. It's Evey.

Yuri looks over at me at my place by the door and her smile broadens. Rod stands beside me playing with the little bell on the knob. The sound is irritating. Anger and annoyance begin to build up inside me.

Evey turns and grimaces at the sight of me. "I'm sorry," she says quietly to Yuri. Evey flips her shaggy red hair over her eyes, bows her head, and rushes out of the store.

Rod steps back to let her pass through the open door. "Hey, Yuri, what was that about? You say something to her?" Yuri shakes her head and lowers her eyes to the surface of her counter where a pile of linen lies. Rod looks up at me, apparently confused. "Neil?"

"I don't know what her problem is," I lie, trying to hide my irritation and discomfort with this whole situation. Iroha apparently is not buying it. She sneers and steps toward me. Yuri turns away and scurries into the back room of the shop.

"Her problem is you, Neil," Iroha says, her mannish voice low and cold. "Evey told me and Yuri what you said to her. How you treat her."

That breaks me; I can't take it anymore. "Evey is a pest and a brat. It's time someone taught her to mind her own business."

Rod jumps in. "Woah, Neil, cool it. Evey's nice. I talk to her almost every day."

Good lord, everyone's on her side. This is ridiculous.

Iroha softens a little, but her face remains stern. "Look, Neil, Evey says nothing but nice things about you. She brings you food every day. She cares. The least you can do is apologize for what you said to her."

"Wait, what'd you say to her, dude?" Rod asks. "Did you tell her off or something?"

I don't have to listen to this. "Screw off, the both of you."

"She really likes you, Neil. Please just give her a chance." Iroha just doesn't give up, does she?

I wish Evey would just get out of my life already.


End file.
